Will Geoscientists Have A Voice At the Energy Transition Table?

October 2019

AAPG's Energy Transition Forum Committee invites professionals and students to participate in a short survey exploring issues such as the Paris Agreement, the impact of digitalization and the preparedness of companies and geoscientists to succeed in the future.You can take the survey by clicking here.

Extended reading

AAPG's Energy Transition Forum Committee invites professionals and students to participate in a short survey exploring issues such as the Paris Agreement, the impact of digitalization and the preparedness of companies and geoscientists to succeed in the future.You can take the survey by clicking here.

Only 28 percent of respondents believe their employer has a strategy for working towards a low carbon future.

While 80 percent feel able to adapt to whatever the future holds for energy professionals,

42 percent expect the energy transition to have a negative impact on geosciences job opportunities.

Still, 80 percent of those responding would encourage students to study geosciences.

A focus of the Forum is how companies and geoscientists – existing and new – will remain relevant and compete effectively in a sustainable energy future. Among the outcomes captured during the first ETF in Amsterdam last year was that the Energy Transition won't necessarily take jobs away, but that jobs will fundamentally change. .

“In light of the huge opportunities and uncertainties we face, geoscientists will need a suitcase full of skills to be ready to travel – not just geographically, but across disciplines and across the value chain,” said Max Brouwers, chair for the Forum and Shell’s vice president of exploration for Europe, Russia and the Caspian.

Further, the group concluded that executive managements must continually inject optimism and empowerment into the next generation of decision makers to ensure geoscientists a place at the table.

It's an oversimplification, but another realization from the 2018 dialogue was that there is no single story about the future of global energy. Policies, national economic priorities, political will and public opinion will determine the way forward. Still, ambivalence and/or delayed reaction is not the best approach for geoscientists.

“A diverse energy mix requires diverse people – it is time for geoscientists to position themselves in the Energy Transition dialogue,” said Marit Brommer, executive director of the International Geothermal Association.